Dreams of Old Vienna

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Operetta fits the gap between opera and musical theater, emerging in the mid-19th century as something of an escape from industrialization and urbanization—filling a growing need for light, melodious entertainment. It made household names of Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss Jr., W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Operetta received renewed vigor—carrying it successfully through to the mid-20th century—by Franz Lehár (1870-1948), whose works are prominent on the Florentine Opera’s upcoming revue, “Vienna, City of My Dreams.” From Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns, a work brimming with fine numbers, comes the song that carried its reputation around the world, “Dein ist mein ganzes herz.” His follow-up work, the opera-operetta hybrid Giuditta (1934), brings us the lovely, “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß.” 

But there’s much more to the Florentine’s program than Viennese operetta. Indeed, the title song of the concert (“Wien, Du Stadt Meiner Träume”) is a stand-alone song penned in 1914 by Austro-Polish composer Rudolf Sieczyński. The Sonett für Wien by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) expresses his homesickness for Austria (Korngold wisely left the country due to the Nazi takeover). Light, escapist musicals for stage and screen arose in operetta’s wake. From such we have the gentle ballad, “Sag beim Abschied leise ‘Servus’” from the 1936 Austrian film Burgtheater. Closer to home we rediscover the hugely-popular movie The Sound of Music (1965) with its Oscar-winning score by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers; gleaned from its many highlights we have the patriotic ballad, “Edelweiss.”

Florentine Director William Florescu will guide the audience along this nostalgic musical journey. The voices come from some of the company’s burgeoning young talent—a quartet of Florentine Studio Artists—accompanied by pianist Ruben Piirainen and double bassist Barry Paul Clark. Baritone Leroy Y. Davis, who found his musical inspiration with the Boys Choir of Harlem, has performed many roles around the country and was a regional finalist in 2015’s Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. Tenor Thomas Leighton, whose vocal training is via the Eastman School of Music and UW-Madison, has performed with Milwaukee’s Present Music and the Madison Opera. Mezzo-soprano Katherine Fili is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s Opera Studio and portrayed the Baroness in a Pittsburgh Opera Theater production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. Soprano Ariana Douglas earned her undergraduate degree at UW-Madison and masters from Louisiana State University.

Feb. 12-14 at the Wilson Theater of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ Vogel Hall, 123 E. State St. For tickets call 1-800-32OPERA or visit florentineopera.org.